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Revelations About Pilot Add to Mystery of Germanwings Crash Germanwings Co-Pilot Deliberately Crashed Airbus Jet, French Prosecutor Says
(35 minutes later)
PARIS — The revelation that one of the pilots of a Germanwings jetliner was locked out of the cockpit before it crashed raised new and troubling questions on Thursday, as search teams continued to scour the rugged terrain of the French Alps for clues that could shed light on what happened. PARIS — The crash of the Germanwings plane in the French Alps that killed 150 people most likely happened because the co-pilot crashed the jet deliberately, the prosecutor in France heading the criminal investigation said on Tuesday.
The Marseille prosecutor, Brice Robin, who is tasked with the criminal investigation into the crash, was scheduled to give a news conference at 12:30 p.m. An official close to the investigation said the prosecutor was due to meet with family members of the crash victims before the briefing. The co-pilot began the plane’s descent for an unknown reason while he was alone in the cockpit, said the prosecutor, Brice Robin, describing the action as deliberate. Mr. Robin said he had opened an investigation for voluntary manslaughter.
The revelation that one of the pilots of a Germanwings jetliner was locked out of the cockpit before it crashed raised new and troubling questions on Thursday, as search teams continued to scour the rugged terrain of the French Alps for clues that could shed light on what happened.
The flight, an Airbus A320 operated by the budget carrier Germanwings, was traveling to Düsseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday morning when it inexplicably descended and slammed into the French Alps, killing the 144 passengers and six crew members on board.The flight, an Airbus A320 operated by the budget carrier Germanwings, was traveling to Düsseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday morning when it inexplicably descended and slammed into the French Alps, killing the 144 passengers and six crew members on board.
The mystery of what happened on the plane during an unexplained 10-minute descent deepened late Wednesday, when a senior French military official participating in the investigation revealed that evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated that one pilot had left the cockpit before the plane began its descent and was unable to get back in.The mystery of what happened on the plane during an unexplained 10-minute descent deepened late Wednesday, when a senior French military official participating in the investigation revealed that evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated that one pilot had left the cockpit before the plane began its descent and was unable to get back in.
Several crucial issues remained unclear on Thursday: The identity of the pilots, why one of the pilots had left the cockpit, and why the pilot who remained at the controls did not open the door. Stefan Schaffrath, an Airbus spokesman, said on Thursday that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, Airbus had upgraded the reinforcements of cockpit doors on its planes in compliance with international regulations.
The captain had 10 years of experience and had flown more than 6,000 hours on Airbus models, Germanwings said. The co-pilot joined the Lufthansa group in September 2013 and had 630 hours of flight experience, said Martin Riecken, a spokesman in Frankfurt for Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings. According to an Airbus video describing the operations of locking the cockpit door, it is locked by default when closed. But when a pilot wants to lock the cockpit door to bar access to someone outside, he or she can move the toggle to a position marked “locked,” which illuminates a red light on a numeric code pad outside. That disables the door, keypad and the door buzzer for five minutes.
Mr. Riecken added that “both pilots had been trained to Lufthansa standards,” and said that officials from Germanwings and Lufthansa would hold a news conference in Cologne, Germany, at 2:30 p.m. While these functions are disabled, the video shows, the only way to make contact with the crew is via the interphone. The doors can then only be opened if someone inside overrides the lock command by moving and holding the toggle switch to the “unlock” position.
Although investigators emphasized that it was far too early to determine what had caused the crash, experts said there were several plausible explanations for why the pilot who left the cockpit was unable to regain access. In someone outside the cockpit suspects the pilot is incapacitated, that person would normally first attempt to establish contact via the intercom or by activating a buzzer. If those efforts were unsuccessful, the video shows, a crew member outside the cockpit would need to enter an emergency code on the keypad.
One possible explanation is that the cockpit door malfunctioned after the pilot entered the passenger cabin, and that the pilot who remained inside the cockpit was incapacitated or otherwise unable to unlock the door because he was overcome by a sudden illness, a sudden loss of cabin pressure, or by the intervention of a third party. There is no evidence so far that anyone other than the pilots entered the cockpit. The code activates a loud buzzer and flashing light on the cockpit control panel, and it triggers a timer that unlocks the door 30 seconds later. The person outside has five seconds to enter before the door locks again.
The theory that the pilot was ill, however, is weakened by the fact that no one on the plane appears to have mentioned a medical emergency to air traffic controllers, and no distress signal was made, investigators said.
Another frightening line of inquiry could be that the pilot who remained in the cockpit had deliberately brought down the plane a scenario that might suggest a pilot suicide. Assuming the cockpit door did not malfunction, analysts said it was possible that the pilot in control of the plane could have activated a switch that would have denied access to the cockpit for several minutes.
In 1999, after a Cairo-bound EgyptAir flight crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket, Mass., killing 217 people, investigators at the time said they suspected that the co-pilot might have attempted suicide. The United States National Transportation Safety Board, which was charged with the investigation, concluded that the crash had occurred because of the co-pilot’s “manipulation of the airplane controls,” although its report explicitly did not use the word suicide.
Egyptian officials at the time reacted with outrage and denied the allegations of suicide.
As investigators continued to pore over the clues, relatives of the victims were expected to arrive on Thursday near the site of the crash, where a makeshift chapel has been set up, and where psychologists are available to provide support. Lufthansa was to operate two special flights for family members on Thursday from Barcelona and from Düsseldorf.As investigators continued to pore over the clues, relatives of the victims were expected to arrive on Thursday near the site of the crash, where a makeshift chapel has been set up, and where psychologists are available to provide support. Lufthansa was to operate two special flights for family members on Thursday from Barcelona and from Düsseldorf.
The victims of the crash included many Germans and Spaniards, including 16 high school students who were returning from an exchange program. Other victims included citizens of Britain, Colombia, Iran, Israel and the United States, among others.The victims of the crash included many Germans and Spaniards, including 16 high school students who were returning from an exchange program. Other victims included citizens of Britain, Colombia, Iran, Israel and the United States, among others.
A bus carrying 14 relatives of Spanish victims departed from Barcelona on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. They apparently did not want to fly.A bus carrying 14 relatives of Spanish victims departed from Barcelona on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. They apparently did not want to fly.